DNA Model
Watson & Cricks' model of DNA in 1953.
Working together at the University of Cambridge in England, James Watson, an American scientist, and Francis Crick, a British researcher, made a major scientific breakthrough when they discovered the famous "double helix" -- the structure of DNA, the molecule of life.
Watson and Crick set about developing a stick-and-ball model of DNA's possible structure. The sides of the ladder were made up of alternating molecules of phosphate and the sugar deoxyribose, while each rung on the ladder was composed of a pair of nitrogen-containing bases connected in the middle. At first, the scientists were uncertain how DNA's four bases -- A, T, C, and G -- link up with each other. Then thanks to a suggestion from a colleague, they realized that the bases always join up with the same partners - A with T, and C with G. On March 7, 1953, Watson and Crick finished their model, which reached 6 feet tall. "A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid" was published in Nature on April 25, 1953. By the late 1950s, their work had been widely accepted by the scientific community. In 1962, Watson and Crick received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine
Source: http://www.ceoe.udel.edu/extreme2004/genomics/dnahistory.html
Watson and Crick set about developing a stick-and-ball model of DNA's possible structure. The sides of the ladder were made up of alternating molecules of phosphate and the sugar deoxyribose, while each rung on the ladder was composed of a pair of nitrogen-containing bases connected in the middle. At first, the scientists were uncertain how DNA's four bases -- A, T, C, and G -- link up with each other. Then thanks to a suggestion from a colleague, they realized that the bases always join up with the same partners - A with T, and C with G. On March 7, 1953, Watson and Crick finished their model, which reached 6 feet tall. "A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid" was published in Nature on April 25, 1953. By the late 1950s, their work had been widely accepted by the scientific community. In 1962, Watson and Crick received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine
Source: http://www.ceoe.udel.edu/extreme2004/genomics/dnahistory.html
